Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-24
dowed with foreknowledge and a peculiar
degree of spiritual consciousness. How
else can we account for the exclamation OF
ono Of tba xr,ar1 o,sta,o -,

degree of spiritual consciousness. How
else can we account for the exclamation OF
one of the wierd sisters in Macbeth:
By the pricking Of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes
Other writers make use of similar ex-
pressions implying this endowment.
The thumb is introduced into English
speech and life in many ways. The young
child sucks his thumb, a little older be
reads Of Hop o. My Thumb, +" rs a school
boz thumbs his books, or rs a girl thumbs
over a tune, and the woman too often does
hi; work merely by the rule of thumb.
This last expression is used to describe a
practical rather than q scientific method.
1t has often produced good results in the
pest, when guided by sterling good sense
and large experience: but the demands Of
n odern manufactures and worldwide com
petition necessitate such ~niceness and ac-
cnracy as are unattaina5le by the rule
of thumb. The origin Of this express
sion is said to be from the well-known
practice among women and pedlers of
reckoning the thumbs breadth as one inch
in measuring. OF course no great accuracy
could attend this method of computation,
and so now We apply the phrase jestingly
to any rough and ready way of doing a
thing. There was a hne assurance of prev
alent honesty about the old practice, though
it certainly laid buyers too much ut the
mercy of willy pedlers. In this connection
we may mention the dishonest practice Of
push thumb" said to have been done by
dishonest hsberdashers in measuring silks,
etc, by which the yard was short OF the
length of the thumbs first joint, pushed in
a skilltul manner by the shopman when
measuring by the yardstick.
Thumbs too are essential helps to ora
tory. 1t was in Quinilian's day, for he
tells us of the various modes of employing
the fingers and thumb in oratorical delv-
cry. Many a successful speaker or noted
orator in these days shows how much he
depends upon its aid during his addresses
by perpetually tapping it with the fore.
finger of the opposite hand.
At every tap no doubt the thumb gives
out an unseen stream Of eloquence, cleo
trical, perhaps. i'll its nature, and Of course
all the more calculated to powerfully affect
the audience! Then how many of our
platform speakers have a habit of putting
the thumbs into the armholes of their vest
aud thus presenting u bold front to their
auditory.
In times of persecution the poor thumb
has been made the vehicle tor experiencing
torture by the use of thumbkins, thum-
biekins, or the thumbscrew. This instru-
ment for COMPRISING the thumbs was used
by the Spanish inquisitors. and twas also
mead ..aS,,,a1 lu in RETAIN Nph.n th.A oh
ject was to obtain a confession of recanta-
tion-because it caused exquisite pain
without ~endangeriug the life Of the victim.
General Dalzelle brought thumbkins into
use in torturing the poor Scotch Covenant
ers. The last recorded instance of their
application in the old world was in the case
of Principal Carstairs, who in 1854 was
eileCtually tortured at the orders of the
Scotch Privy Council, with a view of max
ing him reveal the secrets of the Argyle
and Monmouth parties. The very pair of
thumbscrews which crushed his thumb
bones and caused his arms TO swell 10 the
shoulders are still preserved. When Car
stairs was introduced to King William
after the revolution in 1858 the monarch is
reported to have inquired about the thumb
kins.
81 will some day show them TO you,H
said the principal.
He obtained them from the new Priyy
Council OF Scotland.
IL must try them" said the king. 81
must put i'll my thumbs there. Now,
principal, turn the screw. oh, not so gent
ly; another turn; another. Stop! stop!
Z. mono. $40 ,,,. Iianr t,r an
afraid, would make me confess anything"
The thumb is 4 sine qua non to the sol
dier. 1t is in the art military that II as
sumes its greatest importance. To escape
military service it has been the practice in
all ages to mutilate the hand by cutting
of the thumb. In ancient Rome severe
laws were passed TO prevent thumb mutila-
ton, yet the practice had become 80 com
mon in the time Of TheOdOsIus that the
word pUltrOOn, ~ n synonym for coward,
came into vogue. This word is compounded
of police truncus, mutilated in the thumb,
and to-day, in II own language, the word
has a place and the same meanipg-coward.
To pull the trigger of u mnsket, TO handle
the sword, etc the thumb is indispensable.
To thumbs, then, we may ascribe the most
glorious victories as well as the most
desolate wars OF OF OPPRESSION. True, then,
it is thumbs make heroes"
The snuff taker finds the thumb very
useful, NJ Shakespeare shows when speak
ing of the iop OF olden days, Henry w.,
|, 81
BrtwiNt his finger and his thumb lie held
\ pOunCct box, which ever and anon
lie gave his nose.
So thumbs have something to do with help
ing the revenue. Other more significant
gestures We might advert to, but we close
by hoping this paper will he well thumbed
and by quoting Ficlding's words which,
though applied to the renowned Tommy
Thumb, the son Of CATER Thumb, are
applicable 10 the two jointed digit:
Say where's the mighty Thumb, our sword aud
hUCkleT'
Though 'gainst MS men and giants league with
gods,
Yet Thumb alone is equal to moro odds.